Omaha Sit and Go (SNG) Tournament Poker Strategy - The Basics

Although they are very different games, much of the same strategy from Texas hold'em sit and go (SNG) tournaments can be applied to Omaha SNG tournaments as well. Fundamentally you should be taking the same approach - play tight early, avoid calling for all your chips, and try to push to win pots without a showdown.

Early game adjustments

The fact that busting out means you lose all of your equity in the prize pool, while doubling up does not double your equity, means that to play for a lot of chips early on, you need to have a big advantage. In Texas hold'em sit and go tournaments such opportunities come up fairly often, such as with having a big pair preflop, or hitting a set on the flop, making a flush, etc. But in Omaha SNG's most hands are only about a 6:5 favorite preflop and even after a favorable flop for your hand has hit your opponents will usually be drawing very live. The result is that you should play very tight early on, even tighter than in hold'em sng tournaments, waiting for only the most absolute premium hands like a pair of aces with a wheel card, or A23x. This can be quite boring and would be easy to take advantage of in a cash game, but is the correct Omaha sng strategy.

The bubble

The bubble is also affected by the concept that in Omaha, hands run close together in value. Many players make the mistake of waiting for a "premium" hand to push with, like those containing an ace deuce or a pair of aces. But the truth is that hands that would be trash with a big stack like KT53 are just about as good as A234. The only dominating hand is indeed a pair of aces, but against a hand with both low and straight possibilities even it can be as little as a 55-45 favorite preflop. With aces and a short stack of 10 times the big blind or less, you should either push all in, or in pot limit, make the maximum raise - and you should be making the maximum raise in later position with other hands as well. The hands to look for are any hand containing an ace and at least one low card - these actually all run very close in value, hands with both low and straight possibilities, double suited hands, and hands with both a pair and the ability to make a low. It matters little whether your hand is JJ75 or A234, and in fact the sort of hands that are likely to call you will actually have you in worse shape if you push with the "better" A234 hand. The main point of all this is that you should be pushing very aggressively in late position on the bubble of an Omaha sit and go, and calling very little.

Blind steals gone wrong

One thing you might be a little limited by is the ability to only make the 3.5x raise pot limit allows when you would like to go all-in and maximize your fold equity. The truth is that there is little difference because the two because if one calls for such a big percentage of their stack preflop they should usually put the rest in after the flop, but most of your opponents don't recognize this. Against bad players, often times you will get called and have to take a flop in a bad situation where it is likely you will have to play for all your chips. The key on these flops is if it is checked to you, bet the maximum (which will usually be all-in) with any piece of the flop. Many players will make some very bad folds in this spot and these steals alone can give you a big edge. But don't take this too far. If you raised with A24J, for example, and flop comes QJT, just check behind and hope for a free showdown.

The endgame and heads-up play

After the bubble has burst and you have made the cash, you should ramp up your aggression even further. Especially since these tournaments tend to run long as there are a lot of split all-in pots, blind stealing of the relatively large blinds is the key to victory. Usually you should raise on the button or small blind with any four cards, except for maybe trips and other absolute trash hands. When your blind is raised, consider the pot odds carefully and almost never fold getting 1.5 to 1 or better. For calling with longer odds, the best hands to call with are two aces, ace + low + face card, and big pair + two low cards. In general at the end you should lean toward calling very loose, as well as reraising all-in often against opponents that may make a terrible fold. Heads up, you should be raising the button with almost all of your hands and betting aggressively after the flop as well. More than any other form of poker, aggression gets the money in Omaha sit and go tournaments. Since you are never in that bad of shape even if called, the game revolves around who can get their opponents to fold the most.

Omaha sit and go strategy is some of the simplest in poker, yet many players play very badly. This makes these tournaments extremely profitable, especially if you can combine these basic tips with experience in fundamental Texas hold'em sit and go play. Above all remember that in Omaha, hands are very close together in value, so bet more and call less.